A Tale of an Old Mascara & How it came to be Reused

I came across Clinique's Lash Power mascara yesterday, hidden behind some bottles of contact lens solution. My eyes lit up and I thought 'oh I will use that tomorrow morning'... that was before I unscrewed the wand to find a nice blobby mess of half dried up mascara.

Now it is quite old (maybe 10 months) but if the formulation was okay I would of started reusing it again as I really hadn't given it as much love at it deserved. Plus I really don't believe mascaras do expire after only 3 months - which I actually wrote a post about here.

Like with all mascara when they dry up or go gloopy then it's to the mascara graveyard with it i.e the bin. I really wouldn't suggest warming the tube up in a cup of hot water like I've seen quite alot of on the Internet.

But then I got thinking about the mascara and if it was worth re-purchasing it and actually using it this time. My conclusion was I did like the tubing effect but not for everyday use but I did love the brush - which I curved myself I should add. Just so you aren't thinking the Clinique Lash Power Mascara comes with a curved brush.

Which led me to do this...

I decided what was the point in throwing the whole mascara away when I could maybe re-use the wand which I really did like.

For one it would be much better than a disposable mascara spool as at least it would have a proper end to hold and of course it's better made.

So here are afew things that I thought I could do with it -

Combing through brows with - either just to neaten them or with abit of Vaseline on to keep them in place.

To comb through lashes with after applying mascara to remove any clumps and to separate them.

Using instead of the stool provided with eyelash/eyebrow dying kits...a definite improvement when I home dye my eyebrows in the future.

Also to even see the effects it can give me with a different mascara - tempted to see if using it with YSL Faux Cils will give a nicer (not as full on) day time look for when I don't want big heavy looking lashes.

It hasn't got a multitude of uses but then again is it only a mascara wand.

But the point is I still get to use the brush I really like with all the different mascara I have and I have found when you dip a clean mascara wand into any tube you don't get half as much clumping as you do with a mascara wand that just sits in the tube day-to-day. So it does feel like you are applying a brand new mascara in an odd sort of way as it just glides on.

Then you can just remove the rest of the mascara with a makeup wipe or in some warm water and use it again with another mascara or on your brows.

I think I will definitely doing this again with ever mascara I'm about to throw away.

Fantastic post - I did this once with one of my mascara wands (can't remember the name - but it had a tiny wand and was great for lower lashes)...some mascaras are great because of their wands, and not their formulas - so I'm going to save the wands I like (especially the curved wands) and try them in different formulas.

I already wash my gel eyeliner brush after every use, so I could easily do the same with mascara.